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It can be very convenient for the director of a personal or family company to borrow money from the company, and if structured correctly, a company loan can be a cheap and tax-efficient source of finance. However, there are tax pitfalls to look out for.

To make life simpler and remove the need to keep detailed records of actual expenses, businesses can claim a fixed rate deduction in respect of certain expenses. The option to claim a fixed rate is available for motor expenses and for additional household expenses where the home is used for business purposes.

The Chancellor appears to have it in for landlords at the moment. There is the stamp duty land tax supplement of 3% on purchases of second and subsequent residential properties where completion is on or after 1 April 2016, the restriction in interest rate relief from April 2017 onwards, and the failure to benefit from the cut in capital gains tax from 6 April 2016.

Have you downloaded the Inform Accounting app yet? Available free for iPhone and Android, it provides easy access to your Xero and Receipt Bank accounts, and features a whole range of useful tools and information to help you keep on top of tax all year round.

For 2015/16 and later tax years, the marriage allowance allows married couples and civil partners to transfer 10% of their personal allowance to their partner as long as the recipient does not pay tax at the higher or the additional rate.

Are you one of the 1.8 million small business owners in the UK? If you are, we are almost certain by now as an employer, you will be aware of the need to offer an auto-enrolment pension scheme for your employees. So here's our essential guide of what you need to know:

You might recall a recent blog post in which we highlighted ‘the difference between cashflow and profitability'. In it, we identified some of the ways in which you can tackle cash-flow problems and get money into your business faster. But there’s one secret left up our sleeve - invoice funding.

The taxation of dividends changed significantly from 6 April 2016. Gone is the 10% tax credit and the need to gross up to find the taxable amount and in its place a new dividend allowance and new rates of tax.

In big multinational corporations, the role of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is key. Indeed, through strategic financial planning and careful risk management, the CFO can be the difference between a business continuing its upward spiral or losing it all.

A benefit-in-kind tax charge arises when a company car is also available for private use. The amount that is taxed in respect of this benefit is a percentage of the list price of the car when it was new. The percentage (known as the appropriate percentage) depends on the CO2 emissions of the car.